Studv Manual 




The American Iiistitutef of AsTicult 



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are 



STUDY MANUAL 



Confidential Edition 
* * * 

This study manual is provided only 
to members of The American Institute 
of Agriculture and must be held as 
confidential. It is not for sale to 
anyone who does not enroll for study- 
ing one or more of the courses pro- 
vided by this Institute. 

This, together with the study sug- 
gestions provided with each lesson, 
will take the place of the suggestions 
that would otherwise be given you in 
person by the instructor. 

It is exceedingly important that 
you familiarize yourself with the 
suggestions contained herein, and 
that you refer to this study manual at 
frequent intervals during the period 
of training. 



■* •* * 



Copyright, 1922 

THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF AGRICULTURE 

CHICAGO 






HOW TO STUDY MARKETING 

There is no short cut to knowledge, but studying 
can be simplified and made more effective if you 
have an experienced teacher who can help you plan 
your work, and select for you the material which will 
be of greatest help. 

You will not have to plow through a number of 
lengthy books in order to find the facts you can 
apply practically in your every day work. This 
course provides just those facts you need to know - 
and no more. You will not be burdened with a lot of 
reading that is unimportant. 

The first important thing for you to know is 
just how to proceed with the study in order to get 
the most out of the lessons. This study manual will 
show you that. 

In addition, there are other study helps pro- 
vided with each lesson, and in this manual you will 
learn just how to use each of these. 

1. Your Frame of Mind 

Even though you may be proficient in your par- 
ticular line, you will be able to do your work better 
and you will have more chance to advance in your 
line of business if you know about all of the other 
phases of marketing. Consequently, it is important 
that you put yourself in the right frame of mind 
to study most effectively. 

Success in life depends a great dieal upon your 
state of mind. Determination to succeed is half 
the battle. 

Positive thoughts and affirmative action are 
essential for every permanent advancement. No one 
ever has accomplished an important work while har- 
boring thoughts of doubt in his mind. 



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STUDY MANUAL 



Determination and purpose, not doubts and fears, 
constitute the motive power of success. But deter- 
mination and purpose must be accompanied by serious 
work. 

Concentrate on your task. Proceed with your 
study of marketing with all the seriousness and de- 
termination at your command. 

Do not let thoughts of doubt, or fears of the 
outcome, lead you from your purpose. 

Resolve right now that you are going to get the 
greatest possible results from your studies, that 
you will proceed with an open mind, think positive 
thoughts, take affirmative action, work seriously 
and systematically, and finish the task before you 
at whatever the cost. 

If you do this and stick to it, you will be sur- 
prised at your progress, gratified with your success, 
and inspired with the possibilities of your own 
future. 

2. Don't Miss Anything 

If you should be tempted at times to skip a les- 
son because you feel that the subject has no direct 
connection with your problems, don't yield to the 
temptation. In order to get the greatest good from 
the course, you must understand all of the various 
factors which influence marketing, for there is no 
telling when, under changing conditions, you may be 
able to apply certain points, which at first seemed to 
have little practical value. 

A lesson which does not seem to apply to local 
conditions, may suggest methods of adapting cer- 
tain principles which have been successful elsewhere. 

Again, it is important to know the tendencies in 
agricultural marketing - where the various movements 
are heading, and what forces are at work tending to 
shift the line of march to this side or the other. 



STUDY MANUAL 



If you study the currents, you can save yourself 
much unnecessary energy by swimming with the stream 
rather than against it. This does not mean that, 
merely because things are done in a certain way 
now, they never can be changed, and that we must be 
content to drift along. But you can be sure that 
engineers, assigned to the task of preventing per- 
iodic floods from a certain river, are going to study 
why that river acts as it does, before they attempt 
to prescribe a remedy. 

Study every lesson - for every lesson is put there 
with a purpose. And as your viewpoint broadens, you 
will be surprised at your new powers of vision. Not 
only will present difficulties clear up, but you will 
be able to point the way for improvement. 

3. Study Without Prejudice 

Unfortunately, some people have prejudices that 
cause them to close their minds to the facts. You 
cannot learn unless you start with an open mind, and 
are willing to consider fairly and impartially all 
the facts in the case. 

This does not mean that when you have finished 
with a lesson you must necessarily agree with the 
author, or draw the same conclusions. One of the 
greatest dangers any teacher faces is that his stu- 
dents will accept all that he says without question 
or discussion. 

True education is not confined to absorbing 
facts, like a sponge absorbs water - but in learning 
how to think, how to analyze, and how to draw cor- 
rect conclusions from the facts. 

The point we wish to emphasize is, that you 
should start with an open mind. Weigh carefully 
the facts on both sides, and then draw your own con- 
clusion, not on the basis of what you have always 
been convinced is true, or what you wish were true, 
but on the basis of the facts. 



STUDY MANUAL 



For example, if you are a dealer and feel that 
farmers should not be allowed to cooperate, and that 
cooperative associations are destroying your busi- 
ness, study the facts, and, if this is a movement 
which is inevitable, see if you cannot perform some 
real service which will enable you to take advantage 
of the new found ability of the farmers to assemble, 
grade, and inspect their products, and in general do 
business on a more business-like basis. 

If you are a farmer and believe that all middle- 
men should be abolished, study the facts in the case, 
and it may be that you can take advantage of some of 
these highly specialized selling services. 

At any rate, keep an open mind. Get the facts. 
Study them. Then draw your own conclusions, and 
in nine cases out of ten you will be very nearly right. 

These lessons serve in no way as a battleground 
for disputing parties. There are differences of 
opinion regarding various marketing agencies and 
services. These courses do not attempt to defend 
any existing plan, or to endorse any proposed plan - 
but merely to give the facts concerning all impor- 
tant marketing movements. 

4. How Much Time to Spend on Each Course 

There is no time limit on the service of the 
Institute or on the study period of the member. 
For most people, who can devote as much as an hour 
a day, one full course should easily be completed in 
10 months. This requires careful work for that hour 
each day, however, and we would much prefer to have 
our members spend more time and do more thorough 
work. Our purpose is to give you real practical 
training in marketing, and we propose to do just that 
thing no matter how long it takes. 

5 . How to Flan Your Work 

Experience has proved beyond question that a 
regular, set time for study produces best results for 



STUDY MANUAL 



most people. Plan to master a certain number of 
pages each day, or devote a certain amount of time to 
study each day. 

Either way is good and will enable you to map 
out a tentative schedule for completing the whole 
course. The main thing is to have some definite time 
set aside for carrying on your work in the Institute. 

This point must be especially emphasised because 
regularity soon becomes a habit. After you become 
accustomed to regular study, you will no more put off 
your study hour than you will go without dinner. 

6 . Stick to Your Schedule 

Once having adopted a schedule, stick to it. 
You will have any number of excuses for putting off 
your work period. The average human being likes to 
take the easiest way. The big majority of men follow 
the path of least resistance. But such men are not 
numbered among the leaders. 

Success in any line has its price and if you 
would succeed tomorrow, you must prepare today. 

Every minute you invest in your Institute course 
brings you that much nearer the time when you can 
turn the knowledge to practical account. But even 
that is not the greatest profit. Every time you re- 
fuse to yield to the temptation to leave your adopted 
schedule, you are strengthening yourself for bigger 
things because you are developing your will power. 
And will power, backed with authentic knowledge, is 
the key to success. 

7. What Your Study Should Accomplish 

The object of the Institute is to give you the 
kind of training that will enable you to get right 
to the bottom of any given marketing problem; the 
kind of training that will enable you to analyze 
the situation and then apply the fundamental 
principles that cover it. 



STUDY MANUAL 



We do not want you to work by rule of thumb, 
because conditions will vary almost every time. 
But fundamental principles never change. If you 
know why a thing is right, you will always be able to 
make the slight changes of detail that are needed 
for each individual case. 

8 . Why You Should Study Conscientiously 

You will, no doubt, be impressed with the im- 
portance of marketing information as you proceed; 
the importance, both to you personally and to the 
industry as a whole. 

Don't forget that by learning the facts and 
m aking use of them, you are going to be not only 
more successful from a personal standpoint, but you 
are going to be of more value to agriculture and to 
the prosperity of the country. 

Opportunities exist by the thousands, for men 
who know marketing, and you should, by all means, 
be ambitious to grasp one of these opportunities. 

HOW TO PROCEED WITH THE STUDY 

9. First - Get Acquainted With the Author 

There is a personal introduction to each author 
provided so that you may better understand what 
experience is back of the teaching and so that you 
may feel his real personality. 

Who the Authors Are - In these lessons, you 

have the experience of men who have been responsible 
for the success of cooperative organizations. 

You have the experience of commercial market men. 

You have the experience of congressmen who have 
made the laws regulating marketing. 

You have the experience of commissioners who 
have the responsibility of enforcing these laws. 



STUDY MANUAL 



You have the experience of educators who look 
upon marketing from the teaching standpoint, and 
who analyze the situation with an unprejudiced mind. 

You have the experience of government officials 
who have labored to improve marketing conditions. 

You have the experience of men in other lines of 
business who look upon agricultural marketing from 
a commercial standpoint. 

You have the experience of railroad executives 
who have hauled your farm products to market. 

You have the experience of advertising men who 
look at the problem from the standpoint of good 
salesmanship. 

You have the experience of men at the head of 
farmers' organizations who know what farmers can do 
for themselves to improve marketing conditions. 

You have the experience of agricultural publish- 
ers who have served farmers for years. 

You have the experience of market reporters 
whose business it is to interpret market conditions. 

You have the experience of attorneys who have 
handled the many legal tangles that arise from 
mistakes in marketing. 

Know the man who is talking to you through the 
printed page. Each writer has been carefully 
selected because of his specialized knowledge on 
some one subject. You will get a great deal more 
out of the lesson if you know the particular training 
and experience which enables the writer to speak 
with authority. 

10. Second - Read the Sug g estions For Study 

Now to get right down to the business of studying. 
With each lesson, you will receive special sugges- 
tions for studying that lesson. These suggestions 
do not set forth an arbitrary method which you must 



STUDY MANUAL 



follow. But they have been carefully worked out to 
call your attention to the most important facts 
you should get from the lesson and are designed to 
conserve your time. 

The suggestions for study will make you under- 
stand the proper relationship between the present 
lesson, the ones that go before, and the ones that 
follow. They will show you the relative importance 
of the various parts of the lesson, and they will 
make specific suggestions as to exactly how to pro- 
ceed with the particular lesson. 

1 1. Third - Use the Study Outline 

Look over the study outline which is at the be- 
ginning of each lesson. Do this carefully and fix 
the main points in your mind, so as to have a clear 
idea of what the lesson is all about. It will pay 
you to make a rough outline on paper, jotting down 
the main heads with plenty of space between to be 
filled in with notes as you study each section. 

12. Fourth - Study the Lesson Itself 

No lesson can be mastered with one reading. 
Neither can you get the most out of any lesson by 
reading it simply as a matter of interest. 

First, read the entire lesson quickly to get a 
general idea of the work to be mastered. 

Next, read over the entire list of questions. 

Then re-read the lesson slowly, paragraph by 
paragraph, endeavoring to organize the information 
so as to make it your own. Make sure yon understand 
every point. 

How to Develop Confidence in What You Read - 
Because of the long experience of each author, you 
can read each lesson with absolute confidence in 
what you find there. To develop this confidence, 



STUDY MANUAL 



just remember that every lesson is by a national 
authority, a practical man who has gained his expe- 
rience in the business about which he writes. 

Furthermore, every lesson has been edited and 
checked over by several other authorities. Wherever 
legal phases are considered, these have been care- 
fully checked by a competent attorney. The informa- 
tion in every lesson is as reliable as the Institute 
can make it. 

Paper and Pencil One of Your Best Teachers 
Keep a pencil and paper always at hand. As you read 
a paragraph, underline the principal thought. Put 
it into your own words and v/rite it down under the 
proper head on the outline sheet you have made. When 
you have finished a lesson, you will then have a com- 
plete summary of the whole thing - the meat of the 
lesson in your own language. 

Some people have the faculty of organizing their 
thoughts without putting them down on paper, but in 
general, you will find it much easier and quicker to 
write the outline. This puts the whole thing in 
your mind in an orderly fashion and it is much easier 
to hold the information. 

13. Fifth -Make Use of Illustrations 

Photographs, charts, maps, and drawings are 
not put into these lessons for decoration. They are 
put there to help you better understand the subject 
you are studying. It is important, therefore, that 
you examine each illustration carefully, note its 
connection with the lesson, and discover the addi- 
tional information the illustration contains. 

14. Sixth -Familiarize Yourself With All Trade 

Terms 

All unfamiliar terms are completely defined in 
the glossary, and these definitions should be used in 
connection with your study of the lesson. Whenever 



STUDY MANUAL 



you come to a word in a lesson that is a little unfa- 
miliar to you, by all means refer to the glossary at 
once and get its meaning clear before you proceed. 
The definitions in the glossary are not copied from 
a dictionary. They are special authoritative 
definitions to show the applications to marketing 
of the various words defined. 

15. Seventh - Familiarize Yourself With the Sup- 
plement 

Many of the lessons have supplements, in which 
the actual documents referred to in the lesson are 
reproduced. Look over these documents carefully 
to make sure that you know what is there. You may 
later wish to refer to them for detailed information. 
Study them in connection with the reference in the 
lesson, so that you will know exactly how they are 
used. Then, if it is convenient, talk with someone 
in actual marketing who makes use of such documents. 

1 6. Eighth- Discuss the Subject With Others 

It is urged that you discuss the subjects taken 
up in your lessons with other people whenever you 
can. It is especially valuable for you to discuss 
these questions with men actually engaged in the 
various phases of marketing. 

Discussion accomplishes two very important 
things. The first is, it fixes in your own mind what 
you have learned. 

And the second is, it shows you the opposing ideas 
on the subject that may be prevalent with some people. 
The very opportunity to argue the point, makes cer- 
tain facts seem more important to you than if you 
had not discussed the subject at all. 

Whenever you have opportunity to discuss any of 
these subjects before a farmers' meeting, by all 
means grasp that opportunity. That, again, will be 



STUDY MANUAL 



a wonderful help to you in fixing the facts in your 
mind. 

17. Ninth - Answer Questions 

After completing this systematic study of the 
lesson, read the first question and, without refer- 
ence to the lesson, make rough notes on the points 
which you wish to cover in your answer. 

Think over what you have read and carefully 
organize your answers to the questions. Work out 
brief, clear, logical, pointed statements covering 
the salient points. Time is much better spent in 
this manner, both for you and the instructor, than in 
writing wordy discussions. 

In your answer, stick to the point. This is very 
important. 

Express the Ideas in Your Own Words - One of the 

big advantages of a correspondence course is the 
opportunity for effective expression in writing. 
Do not neglect it. Completeness of answers must not 
be sacrificed for brevity, however. Do not attempt 
to use the wording found in the text, but master the 
ideas and express them in your own language. 

This organizaton of thought will give you the 
strongest preparation for the examination which 
follows in the problems sent you periodically. 

How to Submit Answers to Questions and Prob- 
lems - Submit work regularly. By so doing, you will 
secure the best results. Write answers to ques- 
tions just beneath the question. 

Use a separate sheet for business or other 
communications. 

Be sure to mention your membership number and 
course number in all communications. 



STUDY MANUAL 



When to Mail Answers to Questions - Do not wait 
to send in several lessons at once. Send the 
answers to questions for each lesson after you are 
sure you have mastered the lesson. 

18. Tenth -Work Out Solutions to Problems 

Problems are not supplied with each lesson. 
Eut at various times during the continuation of your 
course, master problems will be sent to you. 

These problems give you an opportunity to put 
int-o practice what you have learned. The questions 
in the lesson simply test your memory, but the prob- 
lems test your ability to make use of what you learn. 
They are, therefore, of the utmost importance. 

Do not attempt to work out the solution to a 
problem until you have mastered all of the lessons 
you have received before you received the problem. 

Do not attempt to give the solution of any problem 
too briefly. The problem is not a question to be 
answered. It simply describes a situation and you 
must determine the best way to handle that situation. 

1 9. How to Use Lessons for Reference 

Each lesson is arranged for reference, as well as 
study. And as you work with later lessons, you may 
wish to refer to some point in a previous lesson. 
This you will find very easy, due to the fact that 
the study outline with each lesson is simply a list 
of the headings separating the different parts of 
the lesson. And the page numbers giving the loca- 
tion of these headings are to be found on the study 
outline. 

20. Be On the Alert to Get the Broad View 

It is seldom that anyone succeeds in this life 
with a narrow view of the work in which he is engaged. 
It is the man who sees all that precedes and all that 



STUDY MANUAL 



follows the particular part of work he does, who 
eventually becomes a leader and a constructive 
thinker. 

You are urged, therefore, not to be satisfied 
with simply learning the details of handling one 
phase of marketing. Search diligently through the 
lessons of this course for the facts on all phases of 
marketing. It is only in that way that you are pre- 
paring yourself for worth-while success and out- 
standing leadership. 



